free excursion special

[tango9]

I am not sure I understand how this new special works. It states that one can receive up to $1000 towards ship excursions on certain Med cruises in 2014.

So... is there some rule about how much you get in each port? Some excursions are $40 and some are $225. Any one have some more detailed information on this?

[dln929]

The promo looks pretty straight-forward. If you go to Azamara's main page and pull up the special, the details are right there and the fine print can be found by clicking on the "terms and conditions" box at the bottom. http://www.azamaraclubcruises.com/special-offers/onshore-onus

 

"ONSHORE. On Us." offer is available for bookings of select 2014 Mediterranean sailings created November 1 - December 15, 2013, in North America (US & Canada); November 8, 2013 - January 31, 2014, in United Kingdom & Republic of Ireland; and November 1 - December 15, 2013, in all other countries. Please contact your Travel Professional for the full listing or visit AzamaraClubCruises.com/Special-Offers/Onshore-OnUs. Bookings must be made using promotion code ONSHORE ON US to qualify. The available free Land Discoveries (LD) must be selected online at AzamaraClubCruises.com/Special-Offers/Onshore-OnUs at least 90 days prior to departure. Once confirmed, changes to your pre-booked free LDs are not permitted. The free LD's have no cash or replacement value, should you cancel or not show up for your tours. The "ONSHORE. On Us." LD promotion is not available for group or charter bookings. Individual reservations may be transferred into groups after stateroom has been deposited. "ONSHORE. On Us." LD offer only applies to guests 1 and 2 in the stateroom and is not combinable with any other offer or promotion. Refer to AzamaraClubCruises.com/Special-Offers/Onshore-OnUs for full terms and conditions. The “ONSHORE. On Us.” offer is capacity controlled and may be withdrawn at any time. Certain restrictions apply.

 

We're on the one of the voyages that qualifies for the special, and I just pulled up the Land Discoveries brochure and there were lots of choices every day that when combined didn't exceed $1000. I wonder, however, that if you could simply pay any overage if your choices were on the pricy side? I bet you could. ;)

[tango9]

ok, thanks I wanted to make sure I was not missing something. Some of the cruises are 7 day and some are longer and I thought it said "up to" $1000, which usually means read the fine print. So I guess there is no other fine print on this, meaning that there is up to $1000 available for any of the listed cruises, no matter the length.

[cruisingpluto]

hi everyone. i am thinking about participating in this promotion with the free excursions and i am hoping someone here might have the answer for me. i will call azamara tomorrow to ask just to make sure since they are closed today, but thought i'd ask her just in case.

 

in the terms and conditions, it says "The available free Land Discoveries (LD) must be selected online at AzamaraClubCruises.com/Special-Offers/Onshore-OnUs at least 90 days prior to departure. "

 

under the list of cruises, i am looking at the april 22 cruise (which is listed as one of the qualifying cruises for this promotion), but it is less than 90 days before departure. so based on the terms and conditions nothing that the land discoveries has to be made at least 90 days prior to departure, will i still be able to take advantage of the free excursions since it is less than 90 days?

 

thanks in advance! i hope someone here can help me.

[themoon]

hi everyone. i am thinking about participating in this promotion with the free excursions and i am hoping someone here might have the answer for me. i will call azamara tomorrow to ask just to make sure since they are closed today, but thought i'd ask her just in case.

 

in the terms and conditions, it says "The available free Land Discoveries (LD) must be selected online at AzamaraClubCruises.com/Special-Offers/Onshore-OnUs at least 90 days prior to departure. "

 

under the list of cruises, i am looking at the april 22 cruise (which is listed as one of the qualifying cruises for this promotion), but it is less than 90 days before departure. so based on the terms and conditions nothing that the land discoveries has to be made at least 90 days prior to departure, will i still be able to take advantage of the free excursions since it is less than 90 days?

 

thanks in advance! i hope someone here can help me.

 

I'm curious about this too, did you get a definitive answer from Azamara?

[Mrs Miggins]

Also interested as presumably there may be significant price drops on all cruises offering free excursions as soon as the 90 days is up.

[tango9]

Why do you assume that the price will drop ? should I wait for the price drop instead of the free excursions?

[curiouscat]

We just booked.. got free excursions... It's a great deal..next month promos are not that great and air is only going to go up..

 

so if you want to sail I'd take the promo...IMHO

 

CC

[tango9]

I spoke to an Azamara rep. She said that the promo ends by 1/31. and the shore excursions need to be booked on your sailing by 1/31 as well as by final payment. Not much time. She said it won't be extended again but there may be another different promotion. ( Valentine's Day special, like in the past?)

[tango9]

sorry for the above, I meant that your shore excursions need to be booked by final payment time. So 4/30 sailing final payment is 1/31

[curiouscat]

We're on the 4/30 sailing... we just PIF tonite.. and shoe excursions were booked.. Flights booked. Now working on rome pre stay...

 

 

CC

[midwestchick]

We just booked.. got free excursions... It's a great deal..next month promos are not that great and air is only going to go up..

 

so if you want to sail I'd take the promo...IMHO

 

CC

 

 

Please tell me...why do you think air fare is only going to go up? The cost of oil is coming down.

[curiouscat]

Please tell me...why do you think air fare is only going to go up? The cost of oil is coming down.

 

It has Nothing to do with OIL.. it is supply and demand. the demand for Europe is way way up....and the airlines cut back on flights... so airfare is up and up !!!! :eek:

 

CC

[Deluzy]

That is a great deal -

 

My favorite was the double upgrade AND choice air credit!

Edited January 29, 2014 by Deluzy

[AzamaraJoel]

Don't forget, this promotion ends tomorrow!

[cruisingpluto]

Don't forget, this promotion ends tomorrow!

 

hi joel, can you please explain and clarify why the terms do not state you need to book a certain category to receive the free excursions? i am hoping i misread the promotion/terms and conditions, but i do not see it anywhere. i am deeply disappointed at the marketing for this promotion. it was something i wanted to participate in, but i couldn't.

 

on your list of cruises that work for this promotion, the 11 night quest was clearly stated as an option earlier this week. however, it did not conform to the 90 day policy. i called and spoke to several different agents and each one told me something different. (the cruise, along with the april 22nd cruise, has since been removed from the list, but when i was checking, they were both still clearly stated on the list).

 

here is what i've been told generally:

1) the 11 night quest was removed from the list weeks ago and doesn't qualify. this is a lie because it's been on the list as late as yesterday and you were able to book the promotion online, but in a higher category.

2) the 11 night quest does qualify, but you need to book a certain category and the agent could not tell me what categories qualified. i eventually found out from calling a million times, but i shouldn't have to waste my time doing that. it should have been clearly written in the terms. why make it so difficult to book something when you can just clearly write a certain category is needed? i am aware it is not combinable with any other offer or promotion which i wasn't trying to do.

3) the 11 night quest does not qualify because of the 90 day rule where you need to have all the excursions booked. again, this did not make sense. why was this cruise and the april 22 on the list to begin with if there is the 90 day rule? looks like someone goofed and did not remove it from the list in time. i am assuming it was there when this promotion first became available back in november.

 

i don't know how these "reasons" made sense since this itinerary was clearly on the list of qualifying cruises. my only guess is that you need to be booked in a certain category (oceanview or higher). i wasted a lot of time going back and forth with your agents. the terms and conditions should clearly state if a certain category is required in order for this promotion to be applied (for example the celebrity 123 Go promotions clearly state you need to be booked in an oceanview or higher).

 

i still booked this cruise (on tuesday), but i did not receive the free excursions and no, my price was not a promotional rate/special offer. i got tired of calling back and forth and hearing a million different things. i got a great price, but this is deceptive marketing since the terms do not clearly state you need to be in a specific category. who ever wrote up the terms for this offer needs to get some additional training since there was a lot of confusion regarding the 90 day policy and the booking category requirement. i hope for future promotions, you will take this into consideration. this is my first time on azamara (i'm usually on royal) and i've never had such a difficult time booking a cruise. it should not be this difficult to give azamara money.

 

your website also has errors and the prices change when you try to book something. this does not make someone want to cruise with azamara if we can't even rely on your website to get an accurate price!

 

it would be great if you could offer some type of explanation azamarajoel. thanks.

Edited January 30, 2014 by ang2383

[curiouscat]

It clearly states that the excursion promo needs to be booked in a 90 day window.. so for instance i booked the April 30th cruise and got the promo.. even though the promo ends today I needed to book and choose my Excursions by the 30 th to get the Promo...

 

Does that make sense? And how come every time I call get answers and if the agent doesn't know she finds out for me ?

 

February they will have another promo.. it's a free upgrade OR 1000 air choice credit...OR 1000 OBC...

 

 

CC

Edited January 31, 2014 by curiouscat

[cruisingpluto]

It clearly states that the excursion promo needs to be booked in a 90 day window.. so for instance i booked the April 30th cruise and got the promo.. even though the promo ends today I needed to book and choose my Excursions by the 30 th to get the Promo...

 

Does that make sense? And how come every time I call get answers and if the agent doesn't know she finds out for me ?

 

cat i understand what you are saying. however, i was looking at this cruise when the 90 day window still applied a few weeks ago. even so, as of earlier this week, the 4/11 and 4/22 voyages were still listed as qualifying which contradicts the terms and conditions. i was able to book those online with the promotion so it contradicts the 90 day window.

 

yes, i called and got answers, but i got a different answer each time. you seem like a cruise critic veteran and i'm sure you are aware that there is a common theme to hear different things from different customer reps.

 

it doesn't matter anymore, i am not trying to start drama here. my cruise has been booked and all i want is clarification why the terms and conditions were not explicit to note the category requirement. this is my own issue and i had to post here since i saw azamarajoel post here and i thought he could give me different insight from what a customer rep on the phone will give me.

 

thanks for your response.

[cotto22]

We just booked one of our back to backs using that promo. i had done what I thought was extensive research on the shore excursions for the ports on the 10/4 cruise using a pdf brochure with detailed info and prices, but when I was able to find a link on the website for the actual excursions that were included in the promo, there was quite a disparity. Instead of 10 excursions for one port, there were 2. For one port where we are there for 2 days, only 3 excursions were offered, and none of them were ones that I had chosen to do based upon the info in the pdf brochure.

 

When I called Azamara, I was berated by the rep who told me that all that info was on the website, and that she always tells people what excursions are included. I had spoken to several people at Azamara, and I guess my TA was as ignorant as I was on the subject. My choices now are to switch promotions, or to cancel and book the Regent cruise for the same time period. The price is comparable, but with not as good itinerary.

 

I am not fond of these promotions that are not what they seem to be...

[Granny DI]

We discovered included excursions are usually not very exciting. We were on a river cruise several years ago with included excursions at every stop. We ended up paying for all our excursions after we took the ship's first "free" excursion.

[fernando59]

Don't forget, this promotion ends tomorrow!

 

January 28 We booked the cruise with Azamara Quest (11 April from Nizza) and the agency has assured us that the offer was active with 6 exursions free of charge and sent us a list of excursions.

 

On the website of our agency is written that the offer was available without indicating any limitations.

 

After booking we were told it was not possible to have the exursions free of charge because the offer was available only from outside cabins. No one told us about the rule of the 90 days when we booked but I'm sure I checked the website of Azamara and the offer was also active for our departure, without specifying to which cabins.

 

Since this limitation has not been shown before booking my opinion we are entitled to the 6 exursions free of charge.

 

We have done 25 cruises so we are not beginners. Other cruise companies due to their mistakes have always tried to encourage the client while in this case Azamara does not seem to be very available

 

I also expect an explanation because with the excuses of Azamara we do not pay the excursions.

I wrote an email to Azamara but after 4 days still no response.

 

AzamaraJoel could respond on behalf of Azamara directly to this board?

 

Ang2383 also asked a question a little above but no one answers.

 

What does write on the forums to advertise the tenders if the promises are not fulfilled then and Azamara are not even worthy to reply.

 

I'm really disappointed with this company and I hope the cruise is not as bad as the communication and management of post-sale Azamara

[fallingsnow]

We just booked one of our back to backs using that promo. i had done what I thought was extensive research on the shore excursions for the ports on the 10/4 cruise using a pdf brochure with detailed info and prices, but when I was able to find a link on the website for the actual excursions that were included in the promo, there was quite a disparity. Instead of 10 excursions for one port, there were 2. For one port where we are there for 2 days, only 3 excursions were offered, and none of them were ones that I had chosen to do based upon the info in the pdf brochure.

 

When I called Azamara, I was berated by the rep who told me that all that info was on the website, and that she always tells people what excursions are included. I had spoken to several people at Azamara, and I guess my TA was as ignorant as I was on the subject. My choices now are to switch promotions, or to cancel and book the Regent cruise for the same time period. The price is comparable, but with not as good itinerary.

 

I am not fond of these promotions that are not what they seem to be...

 

 

I just spoke with our TA, and am only now (two weeks after booking) finding out that the Azamara free shore excursion promotion, that I read over and over had "no fine print" does, in fact, have fine print.

 

First, that the free excursions are only a select few. Second, that "every" port does not include the first and last ports of the cruise. I'm not sure I understand why, if they are giving you a monetary limitation, why they are eliminating certain shore excursions from your selection.

 

I have to admit, I'm feeling a bit "scammed" that this information wasn't made clear before we booked, either by Azamara (on their website, emails or promotional mailings) ...even our TA was not aware. In fact, touting the fact that there was "no fine print" to me, makes it simply dishonest.

 

Mostly, I'm venting here because I'm pretty upset, but I also think others who may be considering this promotion in the future should be aware.

 

This would be my first sailing on Azamara, and already have a bad taste in my mouth.

[curiouscat]

I just spoke with our TA, and am only now (two weeks after booking) finding out that the Azamara free shore excursion promotion, that I read over and over had "no fine print" does, in fact, have fine print.

 

First, that the free excursions are only a select few. Second, that "every" port does not include the first and last ports of the cruise. I'm not sure I understand why, if they are giving you a monetary limitation, why they are eliminating certain shore excursions from your selection.

 

I have to admit, I'm feeling a bit "scammed" that this information wasn't made clear before we booked, either by Azamara (on their website, emails or promotional mailings) ...even our TA was not aware. In fact, touting the fact that there was "no fine print" to me, makes it simply dishonest.

 

Mostly, I'm venting here because I'm pretty upset, but I also think others who may be considering this promotion in the future should be aware.

 

This would be my first sailing on Azamara, and already have a bad taste in my mouth.

 

This too is my first Azamara sailing.

 

Had no problem. Signed up for Promo, went on line,choose excursions,got email confirmation 5 days later of my choices. Got all 4 that I selected for a 7 day sailing.

 

Yes the choices were limited but not a problem, a good sampling within each port and it included the first and last port. The only port(or rather day) is the first day in Sorrento when we arrive at 1 pm.

 

Have you looked at the selections for your sailing?

 

CC

[cotto22]

If we decide to continue with our cruises with Azamara (9/27 and 10/4 on the Journey), our TA will use the new promotion, Choice Air credit, and we will choose our shore excursions and pay for them up front. In other words, we will switch promotions. We booked on the cusp, and our TA can switch booking promotions apparently. There will actually be no difference in price, since there was no way we could spend $2K on shore excursions on the second cruise.

 

However, after reading the complaints on this board, I am still leaning toward the Regent cruise. There seems to be a lot of unhappiness here. Then again, I think more people complain than compliment!

[midwestchick]

If we decide to continue with our cruises with Azamara (9/27 and 10/4 on the Journey), our TA will use the new promotion, Choice Air credit, and we will choose our shore excursions and pay for them up front. In other words, we will switch promotions. We booked on the cusp, and our TA can switch booking promotions apparently. There will actually be no difference in price, since there was no way we could spend $2K on shore excursions on the second cruise.

 

However, after reading the complaints on this board, I am still leaning toward the Regent cruise. There seems to be a lot of unhappiness here. Then again, I think more people complain than compliment!

 

Yes, many times that is the case.

It looks like you are doing a B2B cruise. We are on the 9/27 cruise...it's the second leg of our back to back. Be sure your TA gives you the Azamara discount for booking a B2B cruise...there is one if you are not aware of it and it should be an automatic discount when your TA books your cruise.

If you do not cancel, please sign up for the roll call.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1904466